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Comorbidities significantly decrease productivity in asthma patients

Employed adults with asthma have increased rates of productivity loss due to subsequent comorbidities, according to recent research; consequently, investigators suggest asthma management strategies reflect comorbid awareness to enhance productivity.

“Asthma is associated with several comorbidities. Despite the documented burden of comorbidities in asthma, their effect on productivity loss has been overlooked in the past,” Solmaz Ehteshami-Afshar, MD, of the experimental medicine program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and colleagues wrote.

The researchers evaluated a random sample of 284 working patients with asthma (mean age, 47.8 years; 68% women) to assess the effect of comorbidities on loss of productivity in asthma patients.

Comorbidities were measured using a validated self-administered comorbidity questionnaire (SCQ).

Productivity loss was measured in 2010 Canadian dollars using two validated questionnaires: the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment and the Valuation of Loss Productivity. Productivity loss measures included absenteeism — defined as health-related absence from work — and presenteeism, defined as not fully functional attendance of work.

To examine differences in loss of productivity across comorbidity levels, the researchers utilized a two-part regression model and adjusted for potential confounding variables.

Results showed a mean SCQ score of 2.47 (SD, 2.97; range 0-15) and an average productivity loss of $317.50 per week (SD, $858.80).

A one-unit increase in the SCQ score correlated with a 14% increase in the likelihood of reporting productivity loss and a 9% increase in loss of productivity amongst patients who reported productivity loss.

Additionally, an SCQ score of 15 indicated approximately $1,000 more in productivity loss per week than an SCQ score of 0.

“Our study has highlighted the important associations of comorbidities with productivity loss in working asthma patients,” Ehteshami-Afshar and colleagues concluded. “Productivity loss is a disregarded aspect of the economic burden of asthma. Thus, this study is a reminder for health care providers to pay greater attention to comorbidities in the management of asthma in order to reduce the burden of this common disease that disproportionately affects individuals in their productive years of life.” – by Alaina Tedesco

Disclosure: Researchers report receiving financial support through the Collaborative Innovative Research Fund (CIRF) sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline Canada.